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So when does hay get to the point it is not worth doing

O

old

Well-known Member
So the other day I mowed hay. Did 7 passes around the field with the Farmall A-16 mower. Just came in from raking it and the hay is so thin that I raked all of it into one single windrow
 
HI Old

There really isn't an answer for this it is totally up to you. It is your time and money. When I first say the thread I thought you had got a heap of rain on it. Just my mind jumping ahead before I read. Making hay is a funny thing it can be the absolute best and worst of times. When it is good it is certainly hard to beat. The bad times makes you appreciate the good. If you need rain or whatever it is I hope you get it and that next hay season is better for you.
 
For the most part we went from floods to a drought. May 5th we had floods and my hay field was covered with water and in some places 4 plus feet deep. Then it got hot and dry and after first cutting very little rain and this Sept come in the 17th driest on record
 
Old I hear you, the wether has gone crazy. I am in Eastern Australia. Similar thing to you. We grow some irrigated hay here. Went from three severely dry years of drought ended up with no water allocation for irrigation so haymaking stopped. Now we are in our third La Nina year of very much above average rainfall so getting hay dry is a huge challenge and don't need to irrigate. Lots of the rivers are flooding lots of crops did not get planted. We are heading into hay season here. I have been following the challenges you people are facing over there. Makes an average year look very appealing, it seems the tap is either full on or off.

All the best

Matt
 
I hogged a mature hay patch yesterday that I initially thought looked worth baling. I really wanted to seed out the pasture to get a better stand next year and to lop off a few weeds that were invading so that was what I did. I'm glad I did because even though it looked like it would make a few bales....enough to justify the effort and cost, once it hit the ground there wasn't anything to it.
 
I got one full round bale out of all I did. Hay barn if almost full so don't need it but it does help the back pocket some times
 
Mowed hay 1 week ago Thursday. Got rained on hard Sunday. Tedded it Monday and baled Tuesday. Looks ok, I suppose the cool temps kept it from going bad. This is 4th cutting alfalfa. Got about 18 squares per acre. We need the hay.
cvphoto137117.jpg
 
Agree with you Traditional.

Was thinking the hay I have left to make is pretty mature, not sure its worth it.

Then, I see yesterday in a 90 mile trip on an open tractor, a lot of much poorer road ditch hay was cut and waiting to bale.

So mine might be not so bad!

Paul
 
It just depends on the factors and your situation.

Hay can be so thin that it won't pay for your time and fuel. In the fall, it can be forgotten about if you choose. But earlier in the year, on hay that is put up in multiple cuttings such as alfalfa, it needs clipped off so it can start over again. Whether or not you rake and bale it, is optional. But needs clipped off to start over. Obviously, if it's going into winter dormancy, it isn't going to hurt anything if you don't do anything. Just let it be a wash.

If you got a fence around it, you can grais it, instead of haying it. On anything you have to worry about bloat like alfalfa, wait till after a killing frost to do this.

I put up alfalfa one time when there wasn't much there. I only got 1 bale per 4 acres. Wouldn't of done it, but I needed the hay.

2nd cutting grass hay in my country, has a very low level of protein. Low enough that very few even hay it a second time. Definately not if it's really thin. But that is grass hay for around here. Not sure what you even have.
 
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